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What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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Adam Luther
I’d imagine the next three game series (vs. the Giants and new ownership Magic Debut?) at home will be telling as far as attendance is concerned-but again it is early May and weeknights Monday-Wednesday. Later in the week…Fireworks Friday, and Mother’s Day (Ethier tote bag – love that promotion – get mom something she can haul more stuff around in – stuff it with Dodger gear).
In June the Dodgers play only 9 home games, vs. the Angels, ChiSox, and Mets. Fortunately for 12 of the away games the Dodgers stay in the PST zone.
Jibin Park
According to “The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball,” the batting order should be constructed with your best hitters at #1, #2, and #4 with a bias at the #1 & #2 slots to those that tend to walk more. Then your 4th and 5th best hitters should bat #3 & #5 and then 6th-9th in descending order of quality.
The premise of not batting your best hitter 3rd is the idea that you do not want to have your best hitter batting in the inning with two outs and no one on. And, generally speaking, you’d want to have a speedy guy batting 5th or 6th when you’re traditionally going to play for one run with weak singles hitters. It does seem like a huge waste to have Dee Gordon leading off with Kemp and Ethier hitting behind them.
Mattingly seems to have the prototypical mentality ini constructing his lineup and we seem to have the right personnel to fit the stereotypical mode. 1) Speedy 2) Bunt over, hit & run, “quality” at-bat guy 3) Best hitter on the team 4) Power Guy Thus, the Dodgers revised lineup should be as follows today: 1) Matt Kemp 2) AJ Ellis 3) James Loney 4) Andre Ethier 5) Mark Ellis 6) Dee Gordon 7) Tony Gwynn, Jr. 8) Adam Kennedy 9) Ted Lilly
Given the choice between Mattingly’s lineup today and my lineup, how would you vote?
Anonymous
According to the book, if your best hitters are at 1 & 2, why would the 3rd place hitter likely be hitting with no one on and two outs? Why would you want the slower Mark Ellis on base in front of Gordon? Not everything is as easy as the book lays it out.
Jibin Park
Because the 3rd batter is always up 3rd in the 1st inning, a very likely outcome is two outs (even with the two best hitters on the team) with no on. Currently hitting before Gordon is the even slower pitcher. Mark Ellis won’t get on about 65% of the time and considering he’ll double, triple or HR once in awhile, he won’t be at 1B “clogging” the bases about 70% of the time, and I would assume 75% of the time he’ll either advance to 3rd or home on a base hit from Gordon, so Gordon would still have plenty of opportunities to steal.
That being said, the difference in lineup construction is a matter of 1-2 wins (at best). The problem in hitting Kemp leadoff or second would be the stigma associated with it and the baseball tradition that bestows the best player on the team batting 3rd in the lineup. I think if we could agree that Kemp, Ethier and Ellis (AJ) are the best hitters on the team (in terms of OPS), we should bat them 1,2,4. Less controversial would be having Ellis lead off, Ethier bat second and Kemp bat fourth.
Anonymous
Testing
Jon Weisman
Other than moving A.J. up in the order, I’m not sure there’s much that can be done to help the Dodger lineup.
Jibin Park
Flip flop AJ Ellis and Dee Gordon and I’d be happy although Gordon’s stock as a fantasy baseball player (who I own) would drop.
KT
DEE!!!!!
Jibin Park
Scratch that previous lineup. Dee Gordon bats cleanup!
KT
Rockie Announcer just said “I didn’t think he could hit it that far if he was standing in the outfield”
Anonymous
Oh yeah!
KT
Nice Mark…let’s score a bunch guys
Come on Matty…Have a strong May also
Anonymous
Did you see that! I don’t quite know what to say.
Anonymous
Dee Gordon—The bruiser.
KT
Nice Matty
Come on Dre
Jon Weisman
The Dodgers have their second 1-1 player of 2012!
KT
I don’t get it…Please explain
Jeffrey Thomas III
Kemp and Dee now both have at least 1 home run and 1 stolen base.
Jon Weisman
Exactly.
KT
Thanks…Now that you said something it’s obvious
50/50 duh…sometimes my brain just shuts down
KT
Oh I think I get it…AJ was the 1st to hit his 1st HR of 2012 and Dee was the second…right
KT
DRE!!!!
Anonymous
Let’s just not let them come up in this one.
KT
^_^
KT
Nice Adam…good to see you get #2
underdog
SOo….. Who had “Dee’s First Home Run WIll Not be an Inside the Parker” in the pool? Because it wasn’t me!
Fun top of the 1st. Ain’t over yet given the conditions, the ballpark, and so on. Don’t do what Chacin did, Ted.
KT
Nice play by tony…made it close
Anonymous
Testing again.
KT
test sat
Jon Weisman
I see it.
KT
This is the big one Ted…get him out
KT
Nice DP
Anonymous
Gordon > Pujols in the Homerun race
KT
Maybe that would be incentive for Albert
Anonymous
Testing Again.
Jon Weisman
I see it.
KT
Sat Again…give’er a rip
KT
Nice Mark
Come on Matty
KT
Do it again Dre
KT
Let’s go BGJ
Anonymous
Come on WGJ, rekindle some of that Coors magic!
Linkmeister
I just turned on Gameday and read the summary. Gordon hit a home run, it told me. I didn’t believe it till I watched the video clip.
Gordon? Boy, I hope he doesn’t think he’s a slugger now.
KT
I was thinking that was going to be a gapper
KT
Good inning Ted
KT
Good hit Tony
Come on Adam…let’s get # 3
KT
Let’s go AJ…drive him in
Anonymous
Another great Colletti find—Adam Kennedy. He couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a canoe.!
Anonymous
Not even if he rolled a kayak.
KT
Way to go AJ!!
Come on Ted…Move him over
Anonymous
Nice hitting by AJ, the starting NL All-Star catcher.
KT
Nice catch by EY jr
Anonymous
Oh dear—-A. J. Ellis has become an above average player by having a good OBP, being a student of the catchers game defensively, and being somewhat intelligent. If this gets out it could ruin the game by diluting the # of A-holes around!
KT
Another good inning 7 in a row Ted
Jon Weisman
How close were the inning-ending outs by Loney and Gordon to being hits?
Anonymous
Loney’s ball was scorched, but straight at second. EY made a great diving catch on Gordon’s ball, which might have gone for an inside-the-parker if he’s missed it.
KT
Loney’s line drive was about Head high maybe a little higher right at scuturro…Gordons was a flat out dive towards the LFer by EY caught about waist high
KT
Excellent Mark 3-3
Come on matty
Anonymous
As great as Matty has been and he is only 2nd on the team in RBI’s.
KT
He better pick it up then
KT
Good eye Dre
KT
This is the way I like to see the bases when Tulo gets up…empty
KT
Ted is pitching phenominally…10 in a row
Anonymous
I always get a bit anxious on games in Denver when the team has wasted a lot of opportunities, even though they have a lead.
KT
me too…no lead is safe
KT
Way to start it off Tony…Come on Adam
KT
weak…couldn’t even move him over
KT
AJ!!!!
Anonymous
As we said, the starting NL catcher in the All-Star Game. He has more RBI and a better OBP than either McCann or Posey and, unlike Posey, he hasn’t cost his team several games with his defense.
KT
It woul take a mass media promotion by LA and the fans to vote constantly for him to get in because of the unknown factor
KT
Need a DP here
Rafael Fallito Nieves
Right now Ted Lilly is making a real run to be the best fifth starter in last 3 decades I estimate!
Jibin Park
Steve Lyons is trying to discredit BABIP as a stat.
KT
Dre 5 ft from another HR this one to dead cf
Jibin Park
Announcers should be banned from saying things like “Ted Lilly has not given a homerun this year. The last person to have hit a homerun against Lilly was Carlos Gonzalez.”
KT
Nice play Tony
Jason Ungar
I wonder (it seems like it) if this is the first game where all 8 starters have gotten a hit..
KT
I think there was another game in SD or against SD
I know it was early in the season
KT
good eye Adam
Come on AJ
Jon Weisman
Not clear on why Lilly is exiting with a pitch count of 79.
KT
The rockies feed had Lilly talking to Falzone with Honeycutt standing in the area listening…he was going through a motion with his arm…but it didn’t look too serious…maybe a precaution
Christopher Staaf
I hope that’s exactly what it is because Lindblom is getting lit up right now. If Mattingly pulled Lilly after 79 pitches because he “lost” the shutout…
KT
Kenedy was a little too far off the line to get that one
KT
Wow they’re touching Josh today…hopefully he can shut them down
KT
the balls not moving much for Josh
Anonymous
Well, Lindblom ain’t got it tonight.
Christopher Staaf
That is a gross understatement. I hope Lilly is OK. I am gonna guess Mattingly pulled him for precautionary reasons, not because he lost the shutout.
KT
the ball is hanging up in the air for the batters to tatoo
KT
need to get scutterro here
Anonymous
Vin may not have made the trip, but I can hear him now. “Welcome to Colorado Mr. Lindblom.”
KT
Nice Mark
Jibin Park
Kemp is not 50 SB material.
Anonymous
I was always worried that 50 SB would wear out his legs for the later part of the season. If he accomplishes the first half, good enough.
Anonymous
Do SB wear out legs more than other kinds of running? Players have to sprint so many times during each game, I can’t imagine SB would factor into the amount of wear a player has.
Christopher Staaf
I don’t feel good about this game at all.
Anonymous
Helton is an extremely tough out. Ethier misplayed Tulo’s ball, which should have been a double instead of a triple.
Anonymous
Ethier didn’t play the ball well, but the ball also took an unusual carom off the scoreboard. The angle of incidence didn’t equal the angle of reflection.
Anonymous
You may be right, but he had no chance to catch it, and should have been anticipating a carom. Tulo still might have gotten third, I’ll admit.
Anonymous
While I started to agree with Chris, I’m feeling better by the out. Javy’s redemption game.
Christopher Staaf
I am on pins and needles right now. And to think an hour ago, it was 7-0.
Anonymous
Me too.
Anonymous
I will be officially nervous when Guerra takes the mound with a one-run lead.
Christopher Staaf
I am nervous now. Three straight left handed hitters against Matt Reynolds. I don’t know if we can scratch out an insurance run here.
Anonymous
Gotta start the road back sometime. Let it be tonight.
Anonymous
Need some insurance.
Jibin Park
Come on, Guerra! Get us a save!
KT
What kind of bunt was that James
Anonymous
OMG look at the benches== we put up Kennedy when we absolutely could use a run.
This could be the end.
Christopher Staaf
I guess Hairston’s not feeling well.
Anonymous
I have to agree. Even if his bat is not much better, Uribe certainly tightens up the 9th inning defense. Why not use him at the plate.
Anonymous
he is 2 for 20 vs LHP so far this year and 11 for 69 last year
Anonymous
Uribe has hit well lately, and is a far better defensive third baseman.
Anonymous
Why Sellers in at 3rd for defense rather than Uribe?
Jon Weisman
First passed ball of the year for A.J.
Jon Weisman
One can only assume Uribe is hurt at this point.
Anonymous
Have we heard any such thing?
KT
Nice play Mark
Anonymous
one more strike!!!
Christopher Staaf
Whew. Javy, stop scaring us like that. Good win.
KT
Nice Ballgame
Anonymous
It wasn’t pretty, but welcome back Javy.
Jason Ungar
I can breath again!
Anonymous
Nothing more really needs be said
Anonymous
Full credit to Guerra and the Ellises in this game.
Anonymous
The last pitch to CarGo was a great one.
Blue-eyed Gal (Ellen)
Those last three pitches from Javy were lovely to see. Oo, nasty!
Jon Weisman
NPUT
Anonymous
Since my heart rate is still up, think I’ll sweat out the end of the Miami vs. SF game.